1/4" is a good size, but some lasers could have trouble with it. Also, not only does the glue on birch ply cause a lot of smoke, it also causes a lot of charring on the edges.

However, 1/4" lite ply is much easier to cut, and with much less charring. My gut feel says it should be OK for your flight box.

The charring is going to happen either way, BUT, there are many things that you can do to minimize the charring. There are many tips/tricks I have learned over the years that have helped dramatically in the cutting of thicker materials that I keep as "trade secrets". Also, when people try and use a lower wattage laser to cut thick materials they end up doing 4-5 passes, each time charring the wood more. I can do 1/4" in one pass but prefer to do it in 2 passes.

Thanks for the compliments, Yes that is the front end of my 55% Monocoupe. The girl holding it is my wife who puts up with my hobby, lol.

Your wife is very understanding My scenario would go more like, "honey I bought a $45,000.00 lazer cutter to save me a BUNCH of time w/ my modeling! Could you hold up my 1/2 scale plane so as I can take a picture to show it on RCG?" her reply..... "GET THE OUT! I MEAN IT, GET THE OUT

"Lite Ply" is poplar. Not as strong, softer, significantly lighter (both in color and in weight), generally only has three layers, while the other stuff usually has five. Lite ply normally comes in just 1/8" and 1/4" thicknesses, while birch ply comes in a wide variety of thicknesses, all the way down to 1/64".

Would 1/8" lite ply be strong enough for this box? I can re-draw it for 1/8 if it'll be strong enough, and it would halve the weight. I would still make the two tall sides in 1/4" for the handle to get a good grip on.

Today's services were BEAUTIFUL. It was the biggest gathering of Freemasons we've seen in a long time. A hundred Masons, and another 100 - 150 friends, including soaring pals, square dance pals, FIAT, yacht club and church friends. It was incredible. I got TONS of flowers, and three or four huge poster prints. Tons of hugs, too, and an equal amount of Yellow Rocks from the square dancers. (I'll leave that up to you to look up.)

The large panels and long, unsupported spans would probably be better in 1/4". Things like the sides and backs of drawers, and maybe drawer bottoms, would probably be OK in 1/8". Anything that functions as part of the primary framework of the box should be 1/4".

In most cases it will be stiffness, not strength issues. Stiffness in this case is very sensitive to thickness. Also, 1/8" will be more prone to warping, and generally trying to pretend it's a potato chip.

Yes, going to 1/8" would save weight, but you have already saved a significant amount of weight by switching to Lite Ply.

Did a little "therapeutic shopping" yesterday. Two sets of shoes (work and dressy), and some stuff off HK. A 3'axis stabilizer, some RE magnets, six cheap-o servos (a test), and two plane bags for only ten bucks each. Score! Really can't wait for the stabilizer, I want to see how it does. It's on back order, though, and will hang up the rest of the order. Darn.

manufactured housing rates are up

My goodness what a long day!and I saw 3 accidents from .5 inch of snow- and that was in the 'unpopulated' part of town!
Katie: I'm glad you had a good memorial for Dory. Sounds like half the city showed up! Nuttin better than pals!
we viewed first of 4 apts today, and signed 1/4" deep stack of paperwork!
Anyway there's at least 150 more squares, and the wife is already arguing over the arrangements!enough room for her sewing, my computer, 2 build surfaces, and a hockey game in the center of 'master bedroom' here's a pic. the viewing was @ 1300, and the results were in @ 1538, when I was stuck in 3 mph traffic,but website is a daytime thing, so don't know the answer just yet- just that I dropped a grand for the locking in!
basement garage with washbay, 2 bathrooms-( one for the cat
December 22 is planned 'key day'
I hope your not tweaking the plans for the flightbox too much Katie, between all of us CAD types, if the files don't need much purging Robby will have a clean run of it!- the setup will be done according to thicknesses of materials etc. etc.
More torments later! Johnny

Files

Good luck, Cap'n. if I heard that right, you put down some dough on a new pad. Yeah!

Nah, I'm not tweaking the plans that much. I just corrected some errors, found one misnamed piece and one missing piece, and I designed a simple handle that really beats a peg. Just a little more cleaning up and eraser work and its golden!

Cad? CAD? I don't know no Cee Ayyeee Deeee. All I have is some vellum, a pencil, and imagination. This is a lack that I really ought to fill.

CAD was still very new when I was graduating High School and I learned with T-Squares, Triangles, Lead Holders, and Vellum. I never did learn how to use CAD, though I was in college for a short time to get my Drafting/Engineering degree. When the time came for the CAD classes, they were only offered during afternoons and evenings and I couldn't afford to give up those hours at work. Then I changed jobs and now I'm only home every other week and those classes can't be done on line. I miss not having my drafting table anymore.

Did a little "therapeutic shopping" yesterday. Two sets of shoes (work and dressy), and some stuff off HK. A 3'axis stabilizer, some RE magnets, six cheap-o servos (a test), and two plane bags for only ten bucks each. Score! Really can't wait for the stabilizer, I want to see how it does. It's on back order, though, and will hang up the rest of the order. Darn.

Can you advise P/N for HK plane bags? Search on HK site didn't pull it up.